Jesus' Team prepped and ready in Alydar Stakes

Knicks Go and Swiss Skydiver will be part of a loaded field in the Grade 1 Whitney on Saturday at Saratoga. One day prior, Jesus’ Team, who has placed behind both in major events, headlines a salty field in the $120,000 Alydar Stakes there.

The Alydar is for older horses who have not won an unrestricted stakes race in 2021. Those conditions fit plenty of accomplished runners looking to get back on track. Stakes winner Jesus’ Team heads a field of eight that also includes graded winners Art Collector, Core Beliefs, and Night Ops, and Grade 1 winner Math Wizard.

Jesus’ Team made his lone Saratoga appearance in last year’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy and finished third, beaten less than two lengths by Mystic Guide. He subsequently was third in the Preakness Stakes behind champions Swiss Skydiver and Authentic, and then second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, beaten 3 1/2 lengths by Knicks Go.

Jesus’ Team got back in the win column with a score in the Claiming Crown Jewel in December at Gulfstream, then was second in the Pegasus World Cup in January, beaten 2 3/4 lengths by Knicks Go. He finished sixth in the Dubai World Cup in March. After a nearly four-month freshening, he finished fifth in a one-mile handicap on July 11 at Gulfstream.

“The last race, for sure, he needed,” trainer Jose D’Angelo said. “After quarantine coming back from Dubai, he lost a little weight. It was a little hard to [improve] his conditioning again. He needed that race to be the horse he is now.”

Art Collector won his first four races of 2020, including the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and the Ellis Park Derby. He finished fourth in the Preakness, and eighth in the Dirt Mile. In his only start of 2021, the colt cut back to seven furlongs and was sixth in the Kelly’s Landing Stakes in June at Churchill Downs. He stretches back out to 1 1/8 miles and is making his first start since moving to Bill Mott’s barn from Tommy Drury.

“He’d been off, he broke out, maybe it wasn’t his distance,” Mott said of Art Collector’s comeback race. “You can’t judge that.”

Core Beliefs, winner of the Grade 3 Ohio Derby in 2018 and the Grade 2 New Orleans in 2019, also recently made a barn change. He finished third under allowance/optional conditions in June at Churchill in his first start since September and first for Brian Lynch.

“I think he ran well enough last out to give us the confidence to try him in a spot like this, because it was a credible effort off a long layoff,” Lynch said. “He’s trained on well enough to get a shot. This will be the second time off the bench and it’s at a distance that he really likes.”

Night Ops won the Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows last year and was most recently second in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99, the top last-out number in this field.

Math Wizard has not won since taking the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby in 2019, and most recently finished ninth in the Pegasus World Cup in January. Prioritize was third in the Grade 1 Woodward last year at Saratoga. Graded stakes-placed Bourbon War and Limonite complete the field.

– additional reporting by David Grening